I have to bring a message to y'all about how I feel about the state of soul music.
R. Kelly "Write Me Back" was leaked last week, when I heard it, I fell in love with it just like I did with his previous album "Love Letter". With these two albums R. Kelly is taking a more sensual approach to his music. R. Kelly is known for making those sexual bedroom songs like 'Sex Me Part 1&2', 'Half On A Baby' and 'Feeling On Your Booty'. So, I took to twitter to explain my opinion on this awesome album because of it's soulfulness. "Write Me Back" would make soul artist like Tyrone Davis and Marvin Gaye proud because he took more 70s approach on this one. On his last effort, "Love Letter" he took more of a 60s soul approach that reminded you of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. As I stated, I took to twitter to tell all my followers about this soulful album and to see their opinions, people said this album sucks and R. Kelly needs to go back to the freaky songs. Those statements bothered me and I knew I had to write something about it.
Now I have been a fan of R. Kelly since 1993. Even though he was with Public Announcement in 1991, but it wasnt until his solo debut, "12 Play" where I became a big fan. This album is most definitely a hip-hop soul classic that included a lot of bedroom songs but on this album my favorite two songs were his remake of the Spinners classic 'Sadie' and the sensual 'For You'. The way he did these two songs were very soulful, which showed he was not just a sexual artist. But R. Kelly knew that sexual songs were what the fans wanted. So, as his career continued he kept making those sexual songs but you can't forget about those soul ballads that included 'If I Can Turn Back The Hands Of Time', 'Bad Man', 'When A Woman's Fed Up', and the classic 'I Believe I Can Fly'. These songs were not sexual songs but they were all very soulful, which songs like these he is giving you on "Write Me Back". In addition, R. Kelly always appealed to the older generation with songs like 'Step In The Name of Love', 'Happy People', and 'Red Carpet (Pause, Flash)'. He made these songs for "The Steppers" that includes my grandparents era. So, R. Kelly has always had that 60-70s soulful sound.
R. Kelly is now a 45 year old man his mind is not in the same place it was in 1993. Now he is not talking about bumping & grinding anymore he is making songs like 'Lost In Your Love'. In addition, he was going through a divorce with his wife after 10 years, he is not in that place to talk about the bedroom. I felt that "Love Letter" & "Write Me Back" are dedications to his ex-wife. In my opinion, these albums are just like Marvin Gaye's "Here My Dear" album. This underrated album was dedicated to his ex-wife Anna Gordy. This show me that R. Kelly can make GREAT albums without sexual songs but the songs being sensual. In addition, R. Kelly pay tribute to his musical heroes.
Fast Forward, Brian McKnight is talking the approach that R. Kelly did in 1993 making songs that are very sexual . McKnight has a song entitled 'Let Me Show You How Your P---- Works'. Brian McKnight is not known for songs like that, he is know for ballads like 'One Last Cry', 'Anytime', and 'Back At One'. Now McKnight and Kelly are in the same age category, fans of McKnight are angry because they feel that he should not be making sexual songs like this. What about R. Kelly then? I'm sorry I don't want R. Kelly to make another 12 Play album now because in my opinion, he can't be talking like that. Wait! R. Kelly tried to do that with "Untitled" and the fans didn't like because they felt R. Kelly is not in that age anymore to talk about sex and the album didn't perform well. We had new artists like Trey Songz and Chris Brown having that sexual style that R. Kelly mastered after Marvin Gaye.
During the "Love Letter" era, R. Kelly performed at the 2010 Soul Train Awards during this performance he performed 'My Body Callin', 'When A Woman's Fed Up', 'Happy People', 'When A Woman Loves'. He prepared you to let you know where he is today with his music. So, when you hear "Love Letter" & "Write Me Back" you shouldn't be surprised. So, when "fans" say we want the OLD R. Kelly back it shows that you don't want your artist to grow musically. Perfect example, Beyonce's latest album "4" was her best album musically but it didn't sell as much as "I Am...Sasha Fierce" which included the female anthem 'Single Ladies'. People didn't like the album because she went back to her R&B roots that didn't include pop anthems. Beyonce even said that the "4" album she will look back on and be proud of it. Now, that album didn't sell as much as her previous efforts, but now she wants to make pop anthems like 'Single Ladies' again. Again, I feel like fans don't want their favorite artists to grow musically. But the same people that are hating on R&B based albums are complaining that R&B is dying.
R. Kelly in my opinion has always been soulful and with albums "Love Letter" & "Write Me Back" he is keeping the soul music alive since in this era we are so pop/dance based. In addition, when you have new school artist like Trey Songz and Chris Brown making sexual explicit songs, R. Kelly passed the torch and now he can make more classy and sensual songs. There are only a few R&B artists that are mainstream that are trying to keep R&B a float that include Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, and R. Kelly. Artist like Anthony Hamilton, Calvin Richardson, and Kelly Price are not as mainstream as the others but they are making soulful music. Above all, I am glad R. Kelly made "Love Letter" and "Write Me Back" because it shows that R. Kelly feels the same way about soul music as me and feels it needs to come back into the mainstream because the pop/dance music is getting to much to handle.
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